A single gene controls species diversity in an ecosystem
More than 50 years ago on the shoreline of a rocky tide pool, the US ecologist Robert Paine found out that the removal of a single species from an ecosystem could dramatically alter its structure and function. He had discovered that starfish act as a keystone species in that their presence and role as a top predator maintained the coexistence of diverse species in the rocky intertidal zone.
The researchers tested the effect of three plant genes that control the plant's natural arsenal of chemical defenses against herbivores. They found that the herbivores and predator in their experimental community were more likely to survive on plants with a mutation at a single gene called AOP2.
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